A surprising confession from a showbiz titan
Cowell, 65, is widely perceived as one of the wealthiest figures in entertainment. During the podcast, he was asked if he was worth £500 million (the equivalent of $671 million), as has been reported.
He quickly shut that down.
“Oh God, it’s not that. I’m not even close to that,” he said. “I've made a lot, I'm not going to lie. I've made a bit of money, yes, but not that much, no.”
His relationship with money has been shaped by hardship. At 28, Cowell found himself in serious debt.
Those days are far behind him, but he still finds the financial world so unstable that he never feels fully at ease about his finances.
“What is safe? Is it gold, cash, stocks? I don’t think anything’s safe any longer,” he said. “I guess your house.”
That sense of unease was clear during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Cowell rushed to accelerate production on his shows.
“I had a horrible feeling it’s going to be like that movie Contagion, and I think we need to get all of our shows into production around the world quicker this year,” he recalled. “And we did.”
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Learn MoreLetting go of the ‘myth of more’
Cowell now says he’s walked away from the constant pursuit of wealth. In recent years, he’s downsized his company, Syco Entertainment, and stepped back from the spotlight. He is focused more on spending time with his 11-year-old son, Eric, and his partner, Lauren Silverman.
“I’ve definitely got enough. I don’t need any more,” he said. “I don’t yearn for what I thought I wanted a few years ago.”
His shift in mindset stems from challenging the ‘myth of more’ or the belief that more money means more happiness. At one point, he tried to keep up with billionaires and mingled with yacht-owning elites. But the deeper he went, the more disillusioned he became.
“I didn’t like the people,” he said.
“I thought they were obnoxious, I thought they were snobby. … I remember saying to Lauren, ‘Do we actually know anyone who’s super rich and happy?’ She went, ‘No.’ I went, ‘Nor me.’”
What the research says
Cowell’s perspective mirrors long-standing research. A 2010 Princeton University study found that happiness rises with income, but only up to about $75,000 annually (about $109,000 today).
The message remains: financial stability can reduce stress. Still, beyond a certain point, more money doesn’t buy more happiness.
These days, Cowell says he’s choosing meaning over money. He’s inviting friends to work on passion projects without pay and has let go of the drive to accumulate wealth.
“Someone did actually say to me once, ‘Live in your money.’ And it was really good advice,” he said.
“Enjoy it, and be happy with it, but understand that the world is precarious.”
He seems to be taking that advice to heart, and offering a timely reminder: Sometimes, enough really is enough.
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